Is this really Lucy!
by Yupiloki
Summary: Now what? When 5 chosen Fairy Tail members are sent away for a year, alone, because they are considered the weakest, something strange happens in the guild. How will this affect the Fairy Tail members and there relationships with one and another? Will they become closer or be push away from each other? Read on to find out...
1. Chapter 1

Disclamer: I, sadly, do not own Fairy Tail

Weakest?!

Lucy's point of view:

Today was one of those days that does not happen frequently. Master Makarov was going to announce something important this morning.

When everyone was assembled and had quieted down (which of course took about 20 minutes) he gave us the news.

'The council has picked five of the weakest mages of every guild to leave the guild for a year of intensive training so they will become better mages and there will be more people to defend Magnolia. They will go individually, when I say individually I mean alone. No one will be accompanied by people from the guild or from outside. Other than that, they can train however and wherever they want. Just try to keep the destruction produced to a minimum.' There was a moment of silence before the tsunami of whispers started.

Why was the Council doing this? What was the motive? Who did we need to be protected from?

Once the Master had silenced them he kept talking. 'The mages that, sadly, will be leaving us for a year are Droy, Jet, Nab, Levy and Lucy.' The Master spat the last sentence out.

I could not believe it. I was going to leave my family for a year because I was too weak. I had not notice the noise around me. People were arguing and throwing protests all over the place. I bit my lip hard until it bled and held the urge to scream in frustration.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, which made me wake up from my somewhat trance, and I turned to see who it was. It was Natsu. He had his serious face on and I smiled so he would not have to also be affected.

I left the guild and walked in a daze towards my house. I had to get packed, I would be leaving the next day.

I would go alone. No, wait, I would not go alone. I will have all my celestial spirits with me. Lots of my friends. I will work hard. At least I knew that much of what I would do.

'I can last a year!' I reassured myself.

Today was the day we would leave. The chosen five would go to the next village together and then we would go our separate ways.

Natsu's point of view

Today they were leaving.

'I can believe we will not see them for a year,' Happy said with his head hanging low. I nodded sadly.

Something that had been bugging me from yesterday that not Lucy or Levy were close to being the weakest of the guild. Something weird was going on.

When we were sending the five on their way I held the tears in. but could not keep them locked up when I was embraced by Lucy.

'Hey,' Lucy said as she looked me in the eye. She smiled a small smile but had sadness seeping through her eyes. 'Why are you crying? It is only going to be a year. See you soon,' then she said looking at me and Grey, 'Don't kill each other while I'm gone. I will be expecting to see both of you in one piece when I come back.'

We saw them all walk away towards the next town. Even before we could do it, Lucy had her arm up with her index and thumb formed like an L. We all stood quietly as we watched them go.

Lucy's point of view

When we got to the next village we all said our farewells. When I embraced Levy a tear rolled down both our cheeks.

'Good luck and be save,' I told Levy when I was walking down a track.

'Same to you, Lucy. See you soon.' She shouted back.


	2. Chapter 2

They are back?! For real?!

Natsu's Point of View

It had been a _whole_ year. Today we would be seeing the five members who one year ago were sent away to train and become stronger mages.

We had all decided to stay all day in the Guild Hall to wait for the five. They had not been given an exact hour but had been given the day. It was going to get real noisy and wild here today.

Before getting to the guild I overheard a couple of guys on the street, they were saying something strange.

'Have you heard about the mage that can create life? I heard she has the power to create life and she can also summon spirits…' said one of them.

'Wow, that is so cool!' the other guy said.

The first one to come in was Levy. The door was opened completely and a small figure came in dramatically. 'I'm back!' she called loudly. Only seconds later being surrounded by everyone. It was great, everyone was so joyful.

Then in like a sequence one after another came Jet, after him came, Nab and a quarter of an hour later came Droy.

When you looked at them you would get surprised by their changes. Droy was thinner, Nab had gone back to his appearance from 8 years ago before we were in Tenrou Island. Jet had had his hair cut really short. The only one who had not changed was Levy.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the guilds door was slammed open.

I saw a girl's outline. I could not tell who it was at first, because a shadow was covering her face. But a few seconds later a gust of wind came towards me, and rustling her hair. I smelt a fragrance which belonged to someone whom I would never forget.

Lucy.

The whole guild had fallen silent and were all staring at the returned Lucy. I had mentioned before that the others had changed physically, but this… This was way much more…

Mirajane's Point of View

Sorry I interrupted Natsu. But there is no way in hell that I am going to let Natsu -a boy who does not understand fashion and will most likely make a vague description- describe the clothes and physical appearance of someone, especially Lucy -a girl-.

Any way… What had Natsu been saying…? Oh yes! The Lucy that had let us had been an innocent image, with blonde hair, its' length to the shoulders. And a cute outfit.

Now the girl we had standing before our eyes that was supposedly Lucy, had completely a different image…

Firstly, she was wearing something completely different. She wore a black, leather jacket with a dark purple shirt under. Then she wore ripped, short jeans and black boots that went up to her knees. She had a bangle on her left arm of silver bracelets with skulls and other figures and on her right arm she had a black glove that went up till her elbow.

And secondly, apart from her clothes she had also changed. Her hair fell down to her hips and she just wore it loose. She was paler. She had various scars over her body. But the one that you could she clearly was a scar that cut across her left cheek, also crossing her bottom lip and ending just a bit under the bottom lip. But what stood out most of all were her once cheerful eyes were now filled with sadness.

Natsu's Point of View

Lucy entered the guild swiftly. She made her way to Gramps without saying a word to anyone else. When she reached him, she started casting a spell before anything, I had never seen this spell before. Then suddenly Warren gasped,

"I can't read Master's mind anymore," That caused a lot of mumbling.

Even though Gramps was drunk he was serious, "Tell me, child."

Lucy leaned in and whispered something in his ear. The spell she cast must have also been one that could stop anyone from hearing, including Dragon Slayers.

When she finished speaking to him she stood up strait and smiled, "Missed you all."

Then she started walking towards the door. She had her head down so her hair was covering her face. She was nearly out the door when I ran towards her, yelling for her to stop. She did not stop. So I grabbed her right arm, with the glove and pulled her back, "Why are you leaving? We haven't seen each other in a year! Come and celebrate with us."

Gramps was the one to answer, "She will come and greet you all later. But now you must leave her alone," I was looking at him and then turned back at Lucy. Lucy's head was still bent and I could not see it but… I did see a drop drip from her chin and splatter on the floor.

She pushed me away and ran. I could hear her steps, her fast breathing and the tears dropping on the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**I am sooooooooooooooooooooo sorry for the wait.**

 **I know this might sound like it is an excuse, but, well, my laptop broke. So I could not keep typing until it was fixed. Anyway, from no on I will try to submit the chapters in between 2-6 days.**

 **I also wanted to thank all of you for your reviews. Thanks for the helpful criticism, I really appreciate it.**

 **I also wanted to tell you, that, if you want to you can give me ideas on anything or how you think it is going to go. I love to read about it. Also I would like you to decide. Do you want it to end with love or not? It is up to all of you.**

 **I am really sorry for not being able to post any new chapters. So here you have it, chapter 3…**

What's wrong?

Lucy P.O.V

It had been a year since I had seen all of them. I had missed then so much. I was so happy to see them all drinking and been lively like always, but of course, I had to be the cry baby that I was and spill my tears right there. In front of the whole guild.

It had been a hard year but still… I had told myself that I should never spill another tear, and especially not in front of anyone. But what had actually had brought moisture to my eyes was the warmth of Natsu's skin, the life and strength in his voice.

I lay spread on my bed wondering what I should say. It had been a few hours since I had been in the guild. I decided to go back and face them, and also, hopefully, have some fun. this time I would not show weakness.

What had happened in the past year had nothing to do with them, and it would be best if it stayed that way. On the bright side, my power and skill had increased a lot and I would be able to help and protect everyone I held dear.

I jumped up from my bed and put my glove on. While I was walking towards the guild I remembered I had to pay a whole lot for rent.

. . .

Natsu's P.O.V

Everyone had gone back to partying just as Gramps had asked, but still, we were all edgy and worried. Why had Lucy been crying? Why was she acting that way? What were those scars on her body?

After a few hours the door squealed a bit and a small crack was made. Nobody noticed, maybe it was because they did not hear it or maybe it was because they thought it was the wind.

But anyway, the sunlight that had managed to get in through the crack of the door shone on a strand of long, blonde hair for a second, and then, it was gone.

I could have just left it and kept fighting and celebrating. But… It had to be Lucy. She must have come back to the guild. I was still wondering if it was her, and if I should approach the figure that was now lurking in the shadows when Gramps beat me to it.

"Come on, child," he signalled at the shadow. She walked out of the shadow and walked unnaturally swiftly and fast. She was next to Gramps -who was next to the counter, on the other side of the guild hall- in the blink of an eye. It was incredible.

She gave Gramps a small hug and was wearing a small smile. After that, she turned to everyone else. When she looked around, the small smile grew into a big and wholehearted one. A few seconds later, she made eye contact with me, I could not resist myself. I had seen an opening to tackle her and give her a hug. So I did.

I had been expecting a squeak or something of the kind but she just chuckled and gave me a hug back. When she had finished hugging and speaking to everyone she walked with amazing speed to the jobs panel.

After reaching her destination, she turned in my direction and called, "Natsu! Is our team still active?"

I grinned and answered, "I thought you'd never ask, slow poke!"

As an agreement Happy added, "Aye sir!"

Gray's P.O.V

Lucy and Natsu were debating whether they should take a retrieving job, a slaying job, or a criminal chasing job with Happy flying in circles over their heads. It almost seemed like a year had not passed. Almost. Lucy had sadness tattooed in her eyes and her appearance had completely changed too.

And everyone else was also acting jolly and excited for their return. Wait… Not everyone. There were some exceptions…

Erza was looking at Lucy in a sceptical way. But also had a bit of confusion in her expression. Gajeel had a grim expression. Levy was glancing at Lucy every few seconds. Wendy -who was sitting next to my table- was arguing with Charle about going over to Lucy and asking her what was wrong. Mira Jane had a serious face on and was eying the team.

If anyone else was worried or phased, they were not showing any sighs. I was sure that everyone was feeling something but they were just trying to make everyone else feel happy.

After a while, Lucy, Natsu and Happy went to the counter and gave a paper to Mira Jane. Then before Mira could say anything Lucy came towards me and asked, "You wanna come?"

I raised my head to look at her with wide eyes, "What?"

She shrugged and answered, "You are still in our team right?"

Before I could respond she strode towards Wendy and Charle and also said, "You count too."

They looked up at her dumbfounded. Wendy was opening her mouth to comment on what she had just suggested when Lucy was back to her journey of recruitment.

She walked rapidly towards the door. I was half expecting her to walk out when she abruptly stopped in front of a certain red haired mage. In stead of saying something to Erza, Lucy just offered her hand to her. Erza's eyes widened. After a few seconds, a smile grew on her face and she took Lucy's hand.

Lucy's P.O.V

I had not planned any of this. I had just done it without thinking. My body moving on its own. Asking my best friends to come with me was just… Natural. They were my family, how could I leave them.

We had chosen to go on a demon slaying job. And it paid much, much more that we would have expected. The S-Class trial was in a month so this would probably be the only job I would do with them until then. After that I would probably just do all the jobs on my own so the Master would choose me as an S-Class candidate.

Erza's P.O.V

We were going to leave the next day in the morning. The woman who had requested the job lived in Crocus, so Wendy and Natsu were not looking forward to the trip on the train.

Lucy had such a determined face on before that how could they even complain. Everyone was pumped up, it was their first job together after a year. And apart from that, I was looking forward to see how much Lucy's power had increased.

Nearly everyone had gone home -drunk- and there was only a few people left in the guild. Mira was cleaning the tables and Kinana was putting the thrown barrels and chairs in order. Most of the Fairy Tail guild members -mostly male- did not realise that all of the mess that they made in the guild building was cleared up by Mira and Kinana, and sometimes by other members willing to help them. I could bet that it had never ever crossed their minds.

I had been free and really felt bad, because at one point I had gone into the fight too. They had smashed the piece of cake that I was about to eat, then Natsu slammed into me and Gray sent a chair flying into my face. Most people could see my patience coming to an end. So I started cleaning the floor and putting all the broken glass on the floor in rubbish bags.

When we had finished cleaning up, Mira asked the question that we were all wondering about, "What do you girls think Lucy had to go through in this year?"

3


End file.
